The Rundown is a new weekly feature that shows the results of local tournaments in Montreal and interesting decks around the world that we find for you guys to try out at your next FNM. No elaborate discussion, just list after list after list.
In this week’s Rundown, KYT presents more mill, including a RUG Mill list from Japan.
Japanese RUG Mill
A thread in the MTG Salvation forum linked to my post last week and the people over there were trying to decipher exactly what Kyle Sanchez was playing at Nationals last weekend. I posted an older version that my man Tony Pagliocco had played at a TCG Player TCQ. According to the coverage, it does sound like he cut the Chandras and added [card]Visions of Beyond[/card].
I have discussed this deck with Kenji Tsumura who has become a friend of mine and he told me one of his friends played the following at a large Japanese tournament:
[deck title=Japanese RUG Mill]
[Lands]
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Mountain
4 Misty Rainforest
7 Island
4 Forest
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Hedron Crab
4 Lotus Cobra
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Into the Roil
4 Explore
4 Visions of Beyond
4 Ponder
4 Archive Trap
4 Jace, Memory Adept
4 Preordain
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Consecrated Sphinx
4 Obstinate Baloth
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Pyroclasm
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Kenji’s friend did not end up making top 8 but said that he felt his deck was very strong. It also looks a lot like what Kyle’s deck possibly evolved into. I have personally decided to ditch this idea because I can’t imagine it ever beating an aggro deck ever, but Kenji has insisted that I try it and that it completely crushes Caw-Blade and Valakut. Readers, test it for me!
Pyromancer Mill
For the past several days, I have been brewing for Canadian Nationals. My first mate Alex Hayne has shown me that it is worth exploring cards that are underrated. For Providence, our team discovered that [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card] + [card]Batterskull[/card] was actually bonkers in Legacy. It may seem obvious now, but people didn’t have that duo during the SCG events leading to the GP. In the current T2 environment, I wanted to see how far I could push [card]Visions of Beyond[/card]. Seeing Kyle Sanchez’s deck do so well made me think about an old Flores creation: Pyromancer Mill.
[deck title=Pyromancer Mill by wiks]
[Lands]
3 Halimar Depths
6 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Tectonic Edge
3 Terramorphic Expanse
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Archive Trap
4 Into the Roil
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
3 Pyroclasm
4 Pyromancer Ascension
1 Ricochet Trap
4 Trapmaker’s Snare
4 Visions of Beyond
1 Whiplash Trap
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
3 Combust
4 Flashfreeze
1 Pyroclasm
1 Red Sun’s Zenith
1 Ricochet Trap
1 Runeflare Trap
2 Slagstorm
2 Spell Pierce
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
wiks actually took this deck and piloted to a 4-0 finish in a daily, so I guess I was not the only one who thought about it. Again, I’m not sure the game plan against some of the stronger aggro decks is sound.
UR Twin
I went 5-2 at the PTQ last weekend with Grim Twin. I lost to the mirror match in the win-and-in. Andy Peters, who did not know what to play, decided to take the Grim Twin list I posted last week and he also lost his win-and-in. When he started off 0-1, I actually felt bad that he chose the deck because of me, but he told me he loved it. The guy I lost to also had [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card]s.
Now, a lot of people have told me they feel [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card]s were the sketchiest cards of the list I played and I think that’s a fair statement, but I don’t agree that they should be cut because I should be “focusing on the combo”. [card]Pyroclasm[/card] is played in every UR Twin deck and its purpose it to buy you time to hit your combo. [card]Grim Lavamancer[/card] serves the same role for me. Is it inferior? Possibly, but I don’t see how being more combo-centric is an argument for cutting him.
Here’s a list that recently won a GPT in Japan:
[deck title=UR Twin by Isayama Yusuke]
[Lands]
10 Island
8 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
[/Lands]
[Creatures]
4 Deceiver Exarch
2 Spellskite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Shrine of Piercing Vision
4 Splinter Twin
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Twisted Image
4 Mana Leak
4 Into the Roil
3 Dispel
[/Spells]
[Sideboard]
2 Manic Vandal
2 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Flashfreeze
2 Pyroclasm
2 Slagstorm
2 Mutagenic Growth
1 Postmortem Lunge
1 Jace Beleren
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Postmortem Lunge, huh? Is this tech or a terrible idea?
Take care,
KYT
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.